Belonging
by asb227
Summary: Adopted from turtlechick. All we had were her fists, my bow and the clothes on our backs. We were just looking for a place to belong and we found a few companions along the way. DISCONTINUED because someone else adopted it.
1. Chapter 1: Up North

_Asb227 here. This story was originally written by turtlechick, but I adopted it. Anyway, the idea and first few chapters were hers. I'm afraid I'll screw up her excellent writing with my own._

_It's set in the fuedal era so that's why it AU...ish. lol  
This is my first Naruhina story so I'm a little nervous.  
Thanks for reading!_

_Pairings: Nejiten, Sasusaku, Naruhina, Shikatema, ChoIno, GaaSuri _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... shoot._

**Belonging**

Chapter 1

By: turtlechick

Adopted by Asb227

Tenten;

"You feel that?" I asked, my voice hushed. I felt the hair on my arms stand up. A demon was close by. Everyone has the capability to sense a demon's presence, but it takes a true demon hunter to know the signs. A tickle in the back of your throat, or goose bumps are all a part of normal human life, that's why no one notices them. A demon hunter has the ability to know the difference between a twitch and an on coming demon. My pink haired best friend nodded to my question.

"You want this one?" She asked with a smile.

"You know it." With that said I concentrated and put my hand on the pouch located on my back, it held my arrows and my bow. The demon was a few hundred meters away and coming at a fast pace from the east. Sakura jumped in a nearby tree to give me the room that my fighting style required.

It finally came into view and I was ready. It spotted me right away and I jumped in the air, I took out a few of my arrows and strung them in my bow. I pulled back, and then let go hurling them at the beast in front of me. The arrows pierced its skin and he let out a howl in pain. It was dead in a matter of seconds. The demon fell to it's knees in defeat.

"You done Tenten?" She asked from the tree.

"Yep we're all done here. On to the next village in need." I exclaimed. She rolled her eyes at my enthusiasm.

That's the way it was, always had been. We traveled all over the country in search of needy villages that needed our help with their, 'pest problems.' There were more like us, demon hunters that is. In the world they practically ran the place and people like Sakura and myself were the only things standing in their way.

Most demons, like the one from earlier, have no real plans for world domination, they just want a tasty human snack. A handful of them disguise themselves as humans and walk the streets, they're the ones to look out for. They were the real masterminds to the recent infestations. We had only heard stories about them though.

So here we were traveling demon hunters, all we had were her fists, my weapons and the cloths on our backs. We were just looking for a place to belong.

"Do you think we're doing any good? I mean it's all we seem to do these days, is fight demons. It feels like we aren't even making a dent." I asked all of a sudden.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Well think about it this way Tenten; we may not be making a dent in the demon population but at least the few we do take down won't be able to hurt anyone else's family like they did mine. I think that's the most important thing."

"Yeah I guess you're right about that."

OxO

It felt like we had been walking forever. The balls of my feet stung with every step we took. "Sakura are we almost there yet?" I whined.

"Yes Tenten, but I don't know why you keep asking every five minutes. That won't help us get there any faster." I groaned. "Hey Tenten?"

"What?" I guess that I was acting pretty pathetic for a demon hunter. My eyes were closed as we trudged on and my feet dragged about three seconds after the rest of my body as we continued to the next town.

"We're here." She said monotonously.

"Really!? Well it's about time!" I yelled pumping my fist into the air and picking up my pace.

"I swear Tenten you act more and more like a kid every day. I bet someone would think that you were a kid if you weren't as tall as you are." She muttered. I wore my hair in two buns on the top of my head, she called them childish, but I had worn my hair like that for as long as I could remember. I stuck my tongue out at her and skipped the rest of the way to the village.

"So how much money do we have left?" I asked, a hand on my stomach as it growled uncontrollably.

She sighed as she stifled through the small pouch she kept our money in. "Not much I'm afraid. The last village was very poor, so I couldn't ask for much." Yes, we had to ask for money for our services, but how else were we supposed to survive. People can only live so long on the thought of doing good for others. Stealing was just as bad and Sakura had always said that she would never sink that low.

"Oh and what about breakfast?" I asked, but afraid of the answer. She said nothing.

She tried to smile. "That just means that we'll have to camp out for the night. Now let's go get some grub." she attempted to look happy but the truth was neither of us had slept in a bed for at least a month now. It was really taking a toll on my back, but I guess it was the best we could do.

We grabbed something to eat, ramen to be exact, and headed into the woods to get a good night's sleep, well as good as it could get. There was something about sleeping on a nice comfy bed when you've slept on the cold hard ground for a month. I guess that bed would have to wait for the next town though, since this one had no demon problems.

OxO

The sun woke me up, another good reason to sleep indoors, the sun rose almost two hours before I was actually ready to get up. I stretched my arms and sat up, the sunshine blinding me as I slowly opened my eyes.

"You finally up?" Sakura had always been a morning person, ever since a group of demon destroyed the small village we lived in when we were little. She never truly got a full night's sleep anymore. She was woken by every little thing.

The day that demons obliterated our village was the day that we became demon hunters. The two of us were the sole survivors of the attack. We left it in shambles and traveled around, honing our skills by whoever was willing to teach us a thing or two. Through the years we had grown to be a pretty good team, no demon had the capabilities to stand in our way. Another thing that had become apparent over the years was our attitude toward demons.

Even though demons were the ones who had ruined our villages, I didn't hate them. They caused others pain, and that's what I didn't like about them. I continued to fight them not only for that reason but for the fact that if you ever came across a demon the situation was simple, kill or be killed, easy as that. Sakura, on the other hand, downright hated demons. I had no real family but Sakura had lost both her mother and father when the demons attacked. It wasn't good for your soul if you felt that much hatred for something.

After breakfast we were on our again. It was still early in the morning but Sakura had assured me that we were covering more ground this way. On the outskirts of town sitting underneath a tree was an old lady. She had a cane and her face was covered in wrinkles.

"You young ladies are demon hunters, am I right?" We stopped just before we passed her.

"Yes?" Sakura said unsure of what the old woman was getting at.

"Then I presume that you're headed north."

"No. Why?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard? There is word of a group of demons wreaking havoc up north." She said. "So are you headed there now?" There was a glint in her eyes.

"Well I guess we are. Thank you for the information ma'am." Sakura bowed politely, I was never much into manners. "Come on Tenten, we've got some demons to destroy." She grabbed my arm and led me up the road.

"That little old lady sure was creepy." I said when I was sure we were out range.

"Well at least she gave us some information."

"Up north? Huh."

_I hope that gave you all a little taste of what this story is going to be about. :)  
The next few chapters are when the companions will arrive,  
the next chapter two will actually be coming in.  
Now I don't want to give too much away but they're cousins.  
Ooops that gives it all away. lol  
Hope you all liked it :)_


	2. Chapter 2: Enter: Neji and Hinata

_Another chapter originally written by turtlechick. I didn't do anything to it so all the credit is hers._

_It's a pretty good sized chapter.  
And two more people enter the story!  
Whoo!  
Thanks to my reviewers. :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

**Belonging**

Chapter 2

By: turtlechick

Adopted by: Asb227

"Are we there yet?" I moaned, we were on our way to the next village, again. It seemed like we all did now was travel, but come to think of it that was what we did. Save a village, leave, save another village, it was all getting very monotonous to say the least.

"Tenten we're almost there and stop your whining." Sakura said but she was just as tired as I was. "It's just past those clearing of trees." She pointed to a small cluster of trees in the distance. I groaned again. It seemed like we walked another day but Sakura assured me that it was under fifteen minutes. I was hoping that this village had a big demon problem so that we could get paid a lot and then eat a lot and possibly stay in an inn. The thought made me smile.

We finally reached the village's gates, the village was good size, a bit bigger than the one we came from. Everyone was busy going every which way. Our first priority was finding who ever ran this place so we could possibly get hired. We asked around and finally found out where the village elder was. A woman told us that he could be found in a house on the far edge of the village.

On the way Sakura and I started arguing about something, I don't even remember what it was about. Isn't that what best friends are for though, getting in meaningless fights that only make your friendship better. I was walking backwards, which probably wasn't the best idea in the first place, I had run into someone or something and we both came tumbling down from the impact.

Sakura immediately helped whoever I had knocked down. "Oh, Tenten you are such a klutz." I had run over a small girl, no older than the two of us. She was cute, violet hair, and the strangest lavender eyes.

"No it's fine, I don't watch where I'm going most of the time." She had a slight stuttering problem, but they seemed to be just from her nerves.

"Hey no problem I was the one walking backwards." She bowed slightly and then scurried off in the direction she was headed. What a strange girl.

We arrived at the smallest house in the entire village and Sakura said that this was the place. Wow, for a leader of a village he doesn't exactly live in the best environment. Sakura knocked on the door and young girl opened the door.

"Can I help you?" She said politely.

"We're looking for the village elder. We were told we could find him here." Sakura said respectfully.

"Oh yes right this way." She took us to a small room where a smelly old man sat at short table. "Grandfather these girls would like to speak to you." He nodded and she left quietly.

"What can I do for you young ladies?" Sakura bowed and pinched me on the side to make me do the same.

"My friend and I are traveling demon hunters. We were wondering if you were in need of our services?" Sakura was way better at talking to authority figures than I was.

His face got serious. "I'm glad that you two have showed up. We are actually in dire need of your help." Sakura and I listened intently. "For over a month now we have had problems with a certain demon. We knew he lived in the mountains near our village, but never bothered us before now. He comes every night or so and kidnaps young girls right from our streets. I hope that you will be able to help us with our problem, we are willing to pay handsomely for your services." Like music to my ears.

"We would love to help your village. Um sir?"

"Yes ma'am?" He asked, smiling at us, he was missing a few teeth.

"We are weary from our travels and were wondering if we could get some of our pay, now, to pay for food and possibly a place to stay for the night."

"Oh of course." This guy was my new best friend.

"Thank you very much." Sakura said bowing again.

We ate and took a quick cat nap at the local inn. I wish we would have gotten to stay longer. Sakura had to literally drag me outside, it had been so long since I had slept in a bed, I didn't want to leave. By the we woke up it was dark and time for patrol duty. We couldn't just wait for the demon to attack the village we had to be ready for it. Sakura took the north end I took the south. We would be able to hear if the other was in trouble. Especially Sakura, her fighting style wasn't exactly subtle. She fought mostly with her fists and never held back when it came to demons so the surroundings areas got pretty messed up.

It had been quiet for most of the night, no demon yet, well not on my end that is. I heard a loud crash coming from the north of my position…show time. I rushed over and saw Sakura in a fight with the demon we had been waiting for.

The thing was pretty big, if it hit us we might be thrown for quite a loop. It resembled a tiger or something along those lines, except it was able to stand on it's hind legs. It was fast too, Sakura hadn't even landed a hit on it yet. It's yellow eyes lit up the darkness. I grabbed my bow from my shoulder and an arrow from my back. I strung it on my bow and pulled it back taking my time as I aimed it carefully. Sakura immediately caught on and tried to keep it in one spot. I let go and my arrow struck it square in the back. It left Sakura alone and came sprinting towards me, full speed. I grabbed another arrow and I hit him again. The demon yelled out in pain but still headed straight for me.

It swung one of it's arms at me with it's razor sharp claws and got part of my shirt but didn't harm me. He swung again and that one would have hit me if I hadn't jumped up and out of the way. The demon jumped right along with me and smacked me as I came down. I was hurled into the roof of a nearby house and fell through. I landed on something hard, a table or something like that. I felt my head spinning and before I completely passed out I swear I saw two full moons, then it all went black.

OxO

When I regained consciousness I tried to sit up but I was extremely sore. It was still dark out and it looked like I was in the forest.

"You really shouldn't try to sit up." The same girl that I had run over earlier today was hovering over me.

"I'm fine." I rubbed my head and sat up slowly. "What happened?" I asked. "Wait where is Sakura?" I asked frantically.

"She's right there." Sakura was asleep next to the campfire and the two of us. We were in the forest, a little outside of town. "You came through our roof." She said shying away from me, her voice was hard to hear.

I covered my mouth. "I am so sorry."

She shook her head. "It's alright. It was barely standing anyway." She explained.

"Oh I'm sorry… I'm Tenten by the way." We shook hands.

"Hinata."

"Thanks for saving me." I said.

"It was nothing. Thank you for saving our village, your friend is quite the demon hunter."

"Yeah, so what are you going to do now, since I sort of ruined your house?"

"Well my father told us once that we have relatives up north. I guess we'll travel there and look for a place to stay." I was guessing that her father was dead.

"What a coincidence! Sakura and I are headed up north too! We heard of a rather large gathering of demons up north. You should come with us!"

"We-ll I don't know if my cousin would like that idea." She said at a low whisper.

"Your cousin?" Thinking back, she had spoken in plurals when talking about herself.

"Yes my cousin Neji."

"Well you can't let your cousin tell you what to do with your life! You should come with us!" She struggled for an answer.

"Absolutely not." A boy with long brown hair had stepped into the clearing with a handful of sticks, for the fire probably. He was attractive, good bone structure, the whole nine yards. He also had the same lavender eyes as Hinata.

"Neji, they're headed in the same direction we are. Why can't we go with them?" Her voice was even quieter now and she seemed scared of her cousin.

"Because I won't put you in that sort of danger Hinata. Hiashi told me to take care for you and that's what I intend to do." His voice was stern.

"Look I don't see what the problem is. It'll be safer anyway if we go as a group. Do you think that you'll be able to keep Hinata safe if a demon comes along?"

"My cousin Neji is a retired demon hunter." Hinata whispered in my ear.

"You're a demon hunter! And you just let your village be attacked like that?!" Who did this guy think he was?

"I try to not attract attention to myself, unlike you." He snapped.

"Why did you retire in the first place?"

"I had to take care of Hinata." He simply said. I guess it was a pretty good reason.

"Don't you miss it?" He was silent. "See there you go! You should come with us!" I think I was starting to convince him.

"Tenten is right cousin, it would be safer if we traveled as a group. Please Neji?"

"Yeah, please Neji?" If he could resist the two of us then he wasn't a man at all. He stared at the two of us and sighed.

"Fine. But don't think this makes up for you using your head to smash our house." Oh yeah I forgot about that.

"Are you sure your friend won't mind?" Hinata asked, motioning to Sakura.

"Are you kidding, the more the merrier. Sakura will be thrilled." I assured her. We all settled in for the night. It was strange come to think of it. It had always been just Sakura and I, no one else. This certainly was going to be an experience. Actually I was looking forward to it.

_Well how was that??  
The other characters will come in gradually in the next few chapters one by one.  
I think that...Shikamaru will be the next person to come in,  
but don't quote me on that.  
Hope you all liked it :)_


	3. Chapter 3: Enter: Naruto

_Okay, this'll be the first time I edit turtlechick's writing. I didn't create this entire chapter on my own, just edited turtlechick's original chapter._

_Pairings; Nejiten, Sasusaku, Naruhina, Shikatema, Gaasuri, Choino_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

**Belonging**

Chapter 4

By: turtlechick

Adopted by: Asb227

Tenten;

"How was that? I told you that Hinata had nothing to worry about." I boasted. There was a demon laying on the ground behind me, courtesy of yours truly. Maybe that would get Neji off of my back. He definitely a tough cookie to crack. Things on our little journey were going well. We hadn't come across too many demons even though we were headed in the direction that crazy old lady had told us. Maybe she was just a wrinkled old lady after all.

Suddenly I saw Neji dart behind me and then there was a thud. I slowly turned around to see him standing over the demon I had just defeated, or so I thought.

"Never take your eyes off your enemy, unless your certain it won't get back up." He said in a low voice.

I rolled my eyes, whatever. "Come on guys the next town's close, right Sakura?"

"Yeah, we should make it there in a little while." She answered.

Neji was fast, faster than me, and no one was faster than me. No matter how much I didn't like him, I bet he was an awesome demon hunter.

Sakura;

The weather was good today; not too hot, not too cold, just right. Perfect for traveling. The path we were on now was a lot easier to walk on than the ones we had been taking. Apparently our next destination was a fairly big city, they got a lot of travelers so that's why the paths were so nice, so many people used them.

Hinata and Neji were fitting in with us quite nicely. Hinata had bonded with Tenten and I really well. And Neji wasn't such a bad guy, no matter what Tenten said about him. They had been butting heads ever since they joined us. Hinata and I have had to break up a few fights between the two of them, started by Tenten most of the time.

It was quiet, no one said a word until a boy with bright blond hair and striking blue eyes appeared in front of us, he had jumped down from a nearby tree.

"Give me all your money!" He said with a smile. This boy certainly was weird. Who robs someone with a smile of their face? Neji, Tenten, and I paid no attention to him, but Hinata seemed genuinely freaked out. Maybe this was her first encounter with a bandit. We all just walked past him, leaving the blonde boy behind us. "Hey wait! What about my money?" He yelled after us.

He ran, catching up to us. "So where are you guys headed?" What was up with this guy? I could tell Tenten was getting a little fed up with him already.

"Who are you? What kind of person tries to rob somebody and then asks them where they're going?" Tenten said, hands on her hips.

He laughed nervously, and scratched the back of his head. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

The four of us were confused to say the least. First he attempts to rob us, then he asks us where we were going, and now he introduces himself?

"So really, where are you guys headed?" He asked again.

"We're headed to the next town." I answered him. He wasn't a threat, but he certainly was strange.

"Oh really do you think I could tag along?"

"No!" Tenten and Neji said at the same time. They glared at each other.

"Oh. So what are your names?" He was persistent, I'll give him that.

"If I tell you will you leave us alone?" I asked.

"I'm not making any promises." Hinata giggled at his comment. He smiled at her, but she looked away shyly and blushed.

"We're demon hunters!" Tenten said proudly.

His eyes got wide with excitement. "So am I!" He exclaimed. He was just making stuff up now… There was no way this kid was a demon hunter. Although no one would ever think Tenten I would be demon hunters either, but here we were.

"You just tried to job us. How are you a demon hunter?" I asked.

"Oh come one you guys know how it is. I was just trying to earn an extra buck." He laughed nervously. "Sorry about that. So you guys are headed to the next town I'm guessing."

"Yeah." I answered.

"Me too! I can show you the way, I've been there plenty of times."

"Fine, but just until we get there." Tenten said. It was obvious that Neji didn't want Naruto to come with us period.

OxO

Tenten;

The walk to the next town was nice. Turns out this Naruto kid wasn't as weird as we all thought. He was actually kind of nice. He also knew a pretty good shortcut to the next town. I was pretty excited to get there. I hadn't really ever been a big town before. It was going to be a whole new experience for me, and Sakura too. I don't know if Hinata and Neji had ever been to a large town, but they didn't show signs of excitement so I was guessing they had been.

"It's just over that hill." Naruto yelled pointing to a small hill up ahead. He ran ahead, but when he got to the top, he froze. I ran ahead to see what was going on and had the same reaction that he had, frozen in place. I didn't think that what I was seeing was real. I felt the others come up behind us.

"Shit." Neji cursed under his breath.

The scene in front of us was that of destruction. All of the houses and huts were plowed over. The fences knocked down, the fields were demolished, and there were no signs of life. I wondered if the people got out alive or, whatever did this, got to them before they had a chance to escape.

We continued into the town cautiously, not knowing what we would find, but so far, nothing. The few buildings that were still standing were completely ruined on the inside. I guess that meant no bed for us tonight. We all stopped moving simultaneously, well everyone but Hinata. There was a demon nearby. I couldn't quite tell, but it was either one extremely strong one or, a lot of little ones. Whatever it was, wasn't close, but it was definitely coming, at a pretty fast pace.

"What do we do?" Sakura asked. She wanted a plan.

"Wait." Neji said. "There's no way we'll be able to outrun it." He said solemnly. Hinata was a little confused. She still had no idea why we were acting so strangely.

I shut my eyes, it was a lot closer now. Another thing became clear, it was actually, they, five or six at the most. I wasn't sure if they had been the ones that had caused this destruction though. I opened my eyes, they were here.

These demons were about the size of a human, but with longer limbs. Their skin was a light grey color, and they also had mellow blue eyes. The one in the front of the pack came charging at us, or should I say, straight at me. It tackled me to the ground, we wrestled for a moment. I watched as the other demons jumped over us and began to attack the others. I quickly kicked the demon off of me and jumped up. I scrambled to grab an arrow and my bow before it had a chance to attack again. I strung one in my bow and pulled back and then released. I had hit my mark. Was there any surprise? The demon tried to pull it out, but it died before it was successful.

I quickly grabbed another arrow and spun around. Neji and Sakura were in the middle of a fight of their own, while Naruto fought on a tipping rooftop. Wait. Where was Hinata. I searched for her frantically until I found her running for her life.

"Hinata!" I yelled after her. I tried to make the shot, but it was just too far away and they were still moving. Sakura and Neji noticed the situation and tried to help out as well but more demons just got in our way.

I sent another one to it's grave, before I was able to check on Hinata. Just as I looked up, she tripped. She was a goner if she didn't get up, but she was frozen with fear. I tried to look away but I couldn't. The demon was just about to get her, when Naruto jumped in the way to protect her. He gave the demon something I couldn't recognize. He charged a blue sphere in his hands and thrust it into the demon's chest. Needless to say, it went down immeadiately.

Eventually we were able to defeat them all, without any major injuries. We all rushed over to Hinata and Naruto after the fight was over.

"Hinata are you alright?" Sakura asked out of breath. Hinata only nodded, still dumbfounded. I helped her to her feet.

"Naruto, what was that thing you killed that demon with?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shuffled his feet a little. "I don't really think you guys will like this..." He said.

"Don't worry, the worst that can happen is Sakura fainting." I said. Sakura glared at me.

"Okay.... I'm a warlock. That blue sphere was a spell I created." Naruto said. When he finished, his head hung down.

A silence followed. Everybody was staring at Naruto.

"Those things were crazy." I eventually said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah." Sakura said.

"You don't care?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"No, not really. Having a spellcaster on our side will help tremendously." I stated.

"Thanks! I'm so used to people getting scared of me and outcasting me." Naruto said.

"It may be true the demons were a problem to us, but they didn't do this." Neji was right, those things couldn't have destroyed an entire village, especially one as big as this one. Something else did this. But what? It was silent as we all thought about could have done this. It was apparent that a demon much more powerful that those ones did this.

"So what do we do now?" Sakura asked.

"We move on. There's nothing for us here." Neji said. With that Sakura, Hinata, Neji and I all started out. We left Naruto there, alone.

"Hey are you coming or not!?" I yelled back to him. He got a smile on his face and raced to catch up with us.

I guess we had just earned one more member to this little group.

_I hope that Naruto's entrance was kind of epic. Plus, I think havong him as a warlock and being outcasted fits canon just a little, no?  
Thanks for reading!_


End file.
